2015 could be year of first smart-home hacks

SAN FRANCISCO — What's true of consumers' PCs and credit-card accounts will be true of their refrigerators and thermostats: Once those devices can be accessed online, they will be targeted by hackers.

And with Internet controls now being built into millions of appliances, it's likely we'll see successful smart home-hack attacks sooner rather than later.

"Computer systems are inherently insecure," says Andrew White, founder of One Million Gateways, a start-up that's developing digital payment services based on crypto-currency technology.

For proof of White's hypothesis, just ask Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal — or anyone else who's had their e-mail account taken over by bad actors.

Or ask the tens of millions of consumers whose personal information was stolen from servers belonging to Home Depot, Target, JP Morgan and dozens of other large companies.

Even bitcoin can be stolen, as those who lost big money in Japan's now-defunct Mt. Gox digital currency exchange can tell you.

Given all this history, it's highly unlikely that all the microwaves, coffee pots and home security systems now being connected to the so-called Internet of Things will be safe from attack.

When consumers trade control for online convenience, security usually suffers.

"The danger will come from opening things up more," says Scott Morrison, a senior vice president and security software expert at CA Technologies.

The first of these home hacks may well resemble those made in the early days of computer viruses, when pimple-faced pranksters would break into systems and leave annoying messages just to prove they could.

Those were mostly harmless nuisances.

Likewise, if your neighbor's surly teen ruins your morning cup of Joe by remotely changing your brew setting to "Extra Bold."

But as we now know from the Sony hack, network intrusions made via the Internet are serious business.

Corporate hacking is today the domain of powerful criminal gangs and nation-states. So it's not hard to imagine some entity with bad intent and a lot of coding resources using a hacked home security system to lock a CEO, politician or celebrity either in or out of a residence.

Even Google, which employs some of the biggest brains around and now owns Nest, a maker of so-called smart thermostats, has been hacked.

In early 2010, the search giant exited China and blamed that country for sponsoring a highly sophisticated and targeted attack against its systems, one which led to the loss of data.

And as owners of iPhones, iPads and other mobile devices know, these gadgets regularly need security fixes to keep their data safe.

What's to stop hackers from turning off the furnace or other needed appliances of those who fail to download similar protection?

The often-heard "Honey, did you take out the trash?" may soon be accompanied in more 21st-century homes by: "Honey, did you download the security patch for the fridge?"

Eventually, the Internet of Things may be as convenient and hazardous for consumers as the Internet of PCs and smartphones.

Shinal has covered tech and financial markets for more than 15 years at Bloomberg, BusinessWeek,The San Francisco Chronicle, Dow Jones MarketWatch, WallStreet Journal Digital Network and others. Follow him on Twitter: @johnshinal.